TV

Pointless
6x24 (15/3/12 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Scott & Bailey
2x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Watson & Oliver
1x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) In HD on iPlayer.]

Articles

John Carter flop to cost Walt Disney $200m
(from BBC News)
Ouch. But not exactly unexpected by... well, everyone except the filmmakers, it would seem.
The BBC also have a round-up of notable box office flops -- if John Carter hits that prediction, it will set a new record for the biggest flop ever, 'beating' 1995's Cutthroat Island. That's an impressively long time for a box office record to have stood, actually.

TV

The Mentalist
4x16 His Thoughts Were Red Thoughts
[Watch it on Demand 5 from Friday 6th April. Probably.]

The Sarah Millican Television Programme
1x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Castle
2x04 Fool Me Once
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Dirk Gently
1x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Pointless
6x23 (14/3/12 edition)
Category: films directed by Tim Burton. How many I remembered: all of 'em. Go me.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Room 101: Extra Storage
12x08 Episode 8 [season finale]

Top Gear
18x07 (11/3/12 edition) [season finale]
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

this week on 100 Films

Just 1 new review was posted to 100 Films in a Year this week, and it was...

Super (2010)

For all its grounded reality, Super lets loose in the final fifteen minutes, creating a punch-packing sequence that’s the rival of any comic book movie. It’s emotionally-charged action, all the more powerful for its semi-amateur-ness and realistic brutality. It climaxes in a face-to-face between our hero and the villain which is as good as any you’ll find in such a film.

Read more on my new blog or my classic blog.

More next Sunday.

TV

The Chronicles of Narnia
1x03 The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe Episode Three
1x04 The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe Episode Four
1x05 The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe Episode Five
1x06 The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe Episode Six [season finale]
Barbara Kellerman overacts spectacularly as the White Witch. The Aslan puppet, on the other hand, is just spectacular. OK, it wouldn't really stand up in a production today, but for the time it's brilliant.

Let's Dance for Sport Relief 2012
Episode 4 (of 5)
Rowland Rivron probably deserves to win the series... and, by the time this is posted, anyone who watches live will know if he did or not. But not me. Probably not for another week.

Pointless
6x22 (13/3/12 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

The Chronicles of Narnia
1x01 The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe Episode One
1x02 The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe Episode Two
Ah, classic BBC children's dramas! They may look cheap today, and filled with child actors spouting RP, but they have a distinct charm all their own. What's quite incredible about this one in particular is that it gets going faster than the more recent film adaptation. Not something you expect of a mid-'80s serial.

The Secret Policeman's Ball
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

My copy of Tintin has probably arrived today... but I'm away, so won't get it until Monday. Which means there's no change across the board this week. I'm trying to cut back, see.

Number of titles in collection: 1,458 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,150 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 308 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 3,613 [no change]
Number of films in collection: 1,546 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,449 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Pointless
6x21 (12/3/12 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Roger & Val Have Just Got In
2x06 The Gift [season finale]
I love Roger & Val. If that's to be the end (as I've seen rumoured) then it's fitting, but I'd like there to be more.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Watson & Oliver
1x04 Episode 4
Some of Watson and Oliver's returning sketches work, and I'm glad that not all of them appear in every episode... but that Will and Kate one does -- why? It's a one-gag thing. At least the other recurring sketches show some variety, but that one never does. OK, it's not the exact same script every week, but it may as well be for all the different it'd make.
[Watch it (again) In HD on iPlayer.]

TV

My Life in Books
2x10 Rick Stein and Fiona Shaw [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Pointless
6x20 (9/3/12 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Scott & Bailey
2x01 Episode 1
You know a TV series is good when the episode ends and, a) you're surprised it's the end already, and b) you wish the next one was on right away. Great stuff.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Stella
1x10 Episode 10 [season finale]
I've really struggled to buy the whole plot with Stella still being interested in Rob, and this doesn't do it any favours. Still, at least it's been recommissioned -- it's great fun on the whole and you can't go ending forever on a cliffhanger like that!

TV

Alexander Armstrong's Big Ask
1x06 Episode 6 [season finale]
Russell Kane again?! That's twice in one series. Twice! Of all the people to have back... and in the same series too... Ugh.

House
8x13 Man of the House

My Life in Books
2x09 Sharon Gless and Robert Peston
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Pointless
6x19 (8/3/12 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Super (2010)
[2nd watch]
This was #71 in 100 Films 2011, almost 8 months ago... but I haven't reviewed it yet, hence the re-watch. It was in my year-end top ten though.

TV

The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff
1x03 Episode 3 [season finale]
That was good. Hope we get more.

Pointless
6x18 (7/3/12 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Watson & Oliver
1x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) In HD on iPlayer.]

Films

Serpico (1973)
[#30 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

Comics

Action Comics #7 by Grant Morrison & Rags Morales

After that mediocre aside, Morales is back as the series returns to its main story. Maybe it's just because I so disliked the interruption tale, but this is one of my favourite issues yet: the story progress nicely and there's plenty of it too. It feels wrong to have to praise a comic for giving you a good chunk of story -- surely you'd expect a decent amount for your money -- but, really, you do. And the pieces are beginning to come together here too, including the arrival of Superman's suit. Exciting stuff.

Perhaps even better, though, is the backup strip. Again written by Sholly Fisch and superlatively drawn by Brad Walker, featuring beautiful colours by Jay David Ramos with David Curiel, it's called Meanwhile... and again features Steel. While Superman is off in space saving Metropolis residents (Metropolisers? Metropolisians?), Steel helps out in a city that's just lost a great chunk of itself. Half a city being snatched by an alien is a relatively standard-feeling SF plot, but dealing with the real-life consequences of such a thing -- collapsing suspension bridges, failures in electricity and water supply, etc -- is nice. It gets a bit American at the end, with the whole "everyone coming together to help each other" stuff, but that aside it's a great eight-pager.

I was never sure about buying a Superman book -- the character never seems that interesting -- but Morrison and Morales are doing a good job of convincing me otherwise. Might even continue buying Action past the end of this story. Though if it goes the way of that two-parter I won't care.


Detective Comics #7 by Tony Salvador Daniel

Is that the end of that story? Not sure. A decent action-packed edition, anyway, even if most of the plot had to explained by people standing around talking. Or, as this is a comic book, fitting in an unfeasible number of words while doing a backflip or something.


Uncanny X-Men #8 by Kieron Gillen & Greg Land

Last time I said I wouldn't bother with AvX... but then there's intriguing stuff going on, and a five-page preview of Avengers vs. X-Men #0 was kind of interesting too... but oh, it's going to be expensive... Maybe I'll just exert some patience and wait for the collected edition.

Articles

Amy Reeder Is Batwoman No More
by Rich Johnston (from Bleeding Cool)
I was never convinced about them switching artist on Batwoman, and I wasn't hugely impressed when I saw the results, so I can't say I'm upset about this one. Based on the one piece of new guy's art included in the article, looks like he might be a better fit.

PayPal is blocking the book
by Steve Berry (from Behind the Sofa)
Not content with the outcry that followed their last attempt to stop a charitable venture, or with forcing people to destroy valuable antique musical instruments, now PayPal are trying to halt another charitable initiative. Bastards. And they basically have a market monopoly at this point, so it can be very hard to never use them. Bastards.

TV

My Life in Books
2x08 Alexandra Shulman and Keith Allen
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)
[#28 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

The Court Jester (1956)
[#29 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

Comics

All Star Western #6 by Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti & Moritat

Fantastic stuff. Packed with plot (so much more story in the same number of pages than you get in most mainstream US comics), with great art from Moritat (it looks scruffy, but if you look closely it's actually loaded with detail and surprisingly precise), and neat ties in to the current storyline in Batman (which I imagine will only get stronger as we approach the Night of the Owls crossover in a couple of months).

Meanwhile, back-up strip The Barbary Ghost (drawn by Phil Winslade) comes to a close. The dialogue is so poor I can only assume it's in some way deliberate, considering how good Gray & Palmiotti are on the main strip; the story is fine.


Aquaman #6 by Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis & Joe Prado

Bit of an aside here, focusing on 'Aquawoman' Mera, but a good story. Prado (pencilling from breakdowns by Reis) isn't quite as good as the series' regular artist on the whole, but creates some super images and indeed whole pages nonetheless. Plus it's nice to see some US comics creators are still capable of creating good one-and-dones.


Justice League #6 by Geoff Johns & Jim Lee

One of the complaints that used to be levelled against classic Doctor Who six-parters (still is, of course) is that even the best of them started strong, meandered for a few episodes going nowhere, then finished things up in the last episode. Decompressed storytelling seems to do the same to comics: after several issues where barely anything happened, Justice League rushes to wrap it all up in a final bound. And in 24 pages of story, there are no fewer than nine splash pages -- four of those taken up in two double-pagers. It's not been a bad story, but it would've been stronger if it had been shorter or spent less time treading water in the middle.

And Green Lantern seems like a bit of a dick. Why do some comics fans like him so? No wonder the film failed...

Meanwhile, the extra pages of sketches and whatnot at the back are replaced by a six-page back-up drawn written by Johns and drawn by Carlos D'Anda. It looks pretty enough, and finally begins to explain that mysterious woman who's popped up in the background of several New 52 comics (including all the #1s), but in majority it's the kind of opaque over-mysterious storytelling that locks out newcomers. Even if it's all a mystery to old readers too, you feel these are characters you're meant to know (but don't) talking cryptically but in a way you're meant to understand (but don't).

It's blatantly setting up a future Big Story in Justice League, but we'll presumably have to wait at least a little while for it as there's a different story with a different artist up next, presumably to allow notoriously-slow artist Jim Lee to catch up.

this week on 100 Films

4 new reviews were posted to 100 Films in a Year this week, and they were...

Catwoman (2011)

Included on releases of Batman: Year One, Catwoman is an action-orientated short starring Catwoman (obviously) chasing down gangster Rough Cut because two of his goons tried to shoot a puddytat. OK, there’s more to her motivation than that, but that’d spoil the ending.

Read more on my new blog or my classic blog.

Faintheart (2008)

It’s about battle re-enacters; or rather, it’s a Brit-rom-com that uses battle re-enacters as its USP. “Brit-rom-com” should give you a fair idea of the territory we’re in, although this has a geekier edge than most, which plays to the sensibilities of someone like me.

Read more on my new blog or my classic blog.

The Gruffalo's Child (2011)

The CG animation retains the original’s “is it claymation?” feel, though the wintry setting allows the animators to really show off with some truly stunning snow. Most of the film goes for an appropriately cartoony style, but the various types of frozen water on display could pass for the real thing.

Read more on my new blog or my classic blog.

RED (2010)

just one in a recent array of tongue-in-cheek action films; films that aren’t strictly comedies but aren’t wholly serious either, meaning they can push their action sequences to ludicrous extremes and get away with it. They’re also a lot of fun and I love them. I love a gritty and serious Bourne as much as your next man, or a traditional action film too, but there’s also room for films that are daft, fun, knowingly silly rather than just ridiculous.

Read more on my new blog or my classic blog.

More next Sunday.